US OPEN 2010

Draws are out - men's, women's - and lil' wayne has bestowed us with his own predictions (handwritten! from jail!):

http://siusopen.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/wayne-small1.jpg

I agree with him about Clijsters, unfortunately.

He obv knows his stuff on the men's side but I take issue with "Roddick's aggressive game" - serve aside, he doesn't play aggressively these days - and I don't think I'd go with Nadal. I shall do my predictions anon!

Not sure if I want to do predictions this time... I have my assumptions and hopes but I feel like a bad luck charm.

Murray to finally get a slam w/out a coach sounds about right.

love Wayne using the phrase "simply adore".

and i was on fila meeting today!was fun ,had to try a lot of skorts and staff,the upcoming collections are very nice!i looove clouth
5 minutes ago via web

never change, swetlana!

what the bloody hell is Sharapova wearing here

http://gofugyourself.celebuzz.com/2010/08/24/spl200722_006.jpg

it's a tee she's wearing for Evian's "Live Young" month as seen here - but i have no idea why she's paired it with those shorts and that blazer.

predix!

R16
Sharapova d. Wozniacki*
Kuznetsova d. Chakvetadze**
Wickmayer d. Kanepi (or Q)***
Zvonareva d. Radwanska****
Azarenka d. A.Bondarenko (or Q)
Pennetta d. Williams
Kleybanova d. Dementieva
Clijsters d. Zakopalova

Kuznetsova d. Sharapova
Zvonareva d. Wickmayer
Azarenka d. Pennetta
Clijsters d. Kleybanova

Kuznetsova d. Zvonareva
Clijsters d. Azarenka

Clijsters d. Kuznetsova

*the biggest reason for an early Wozniacki loss is her insane warm-up schedule, I can't believe she didn't pull out of New Haven this week
**the Kuznetsova section is key to the whole draw - I originally picked Kirilenko to beat her before reading that Maria K suffered a back injury in her NH match yesterday. Every round is a big hurdle for Sweta, even if she's out of her slump; if she doesn't come through, we'll see Sharapova in the final for sure
***Jankovic has been DREADFUL since Wimbledon, her 1R opponent Simona Halep should see this as a golden opportunity to make a name for herself for something other than her breasts. Also, most of the qualifier spots are super-cushy.
****such a good draw for Bepa, but Vandeweghe in the 2R worries me, Bepa somehow managed to lose to her in San Diego. If she fucks this up...

Overall it's a pretty balanced draw, given how screwy it could have been with the current rankings weirdness/WTA's descent into free-for-all madness.

I hear Melanie Oudin is getting the word COURAGE printed on her shoes, as if BELIEVE wasn't annoying enough last year. She's won three matches since May and has spent most of the summer whining about how everyone expects her to win every match she plays (as if they care) and how she wants the Americans ranked between 80 and 150 to join her so she doesn't get all the attention and expectation. Don't worry about that, sweetcakes, in two weeks you'll be joining them when your fluke QF points from last year come off.

and the men's. This is like so many other Slams where everything points it towards it finally being Murray's Time, but we have been here before and he has failed to deliver. I think he has a great, great shot here, but all those other times I predicted him to break through and I'm not going to be taken in again.

Eyerolling SO much at Roddick's cushy hometown draw, btw. UGHHHH.

Nadal d. Stakhovsky
Nalbandian d. Ferrer
Murray d. Querrey
Malisse d. Stepanek
Roddick d. Gasquet
Fish d. Djokovic
Cilic d. Soderling
Federer d. Melzer (or Q)

Nadal d. Nalbandian
Murray d. Malisse
Roddick d. Fish
Federer d. Cilic

Murray d. Nadal
Federer d. Roddick

Federer d. Murray

*the biggest reason for an early Wozniacki loss is her insane warm-up schedule, I can't believe she didn't pull out of New Haven this week

You would think so, but she won New Haven last year and reached the final of the Open. Although I guess she's played more in the weeks leading up to NH this year.

Overall it's a pretty balanced draw

Yeah, I like it a lot. It's up to the players now.

yeah last year she also played 4 straight weeks, but lost her LA and Canada openers, so she'd only played 5 matches in the 3 weeks before New Haven. this year she won Copenhagen and Montréal AND she added a transatlantic flight between tournaments with no break AND Montréal got pushed into this week. I hate seeing players be stupid like this, Jankovic used to overplay all the time and then whine about getting fatigued in Slams. Why do you think that could be, dear.

First notable result, Hantuchova outblasts Safina.

Very excited, I will be attending the US Open this year, the first time I have ever seen a major played live! Only my second pro tournament overall, after I saw Roddick nearly lose to Malisse and Fish hilariously destroy Taylor Dent earlier this year.

yay Daniela!

lol Dinara

also YAY LARCHER DE BRITO LOST

it is amazing how much I hate her, considering I only ever saw her play one match

Thank christ. I was fearing that De Screamo's qualifying run would lead to a mini-resurgence.

My first sight of the 2010 US Open was Evgeny Korolev shirtless :D

Saw the end of Monfils' needlessly long five-setter against a US scrub. Monfils sure like to play with fire. He's serving at 4-4, Kendrick bashes two clean return winners...somehow pulls it back from there. Sometimes I think he plays stupid dummy points just to prove that he can still win them with his athleticism. Nice dropshot/pass combo on MP. Kendrick looked pissed at the end.

Why did Toaderling get taken to five by...who is this Andreas Haider-Maurer?

LOL, Kvitova won her first match since Wimbledon!

also I'm reasonably surprised by the Safina result, given that she beat Hanturexia last week!

I kind of want Kvitova to do really well here!

So do I, because "doing really well" in her section of the draw would mean beating St. Kim! :D

(Then she can lose to Zheng or CAKE in the last 16, thanks.)

ha I just realized TODAY that I have spent almost 18 months thinking Wozniak and Wozniacki were the same person

(the dangers of following tennis via stats rather than by watching the matches, lol)

They played each other a few times last year! Though I think the Molik vs Malek matches would be more hellish for the umps.

looool Azarenka taken to a third set after bagelling the first.

I predict Nadal defeats Roddick in the final.
as usual Murray eat a bag of dicks
Lil Wayne here

Taylor Dent: as fat as ever, serve as big as ever.

I can't watch this for the most part :( But am watching Hewitt v Mathieu and it is dreadful in a women's tennis fashion. Was that four breaks in a row? SMH!

Worst line calling I've ever seen. Mathieu has had to challenge at least 3 calls that were so far out the umpire should have been overruling.

lol federer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8h5zueXTWs

looool Azarenka taken to a third set after bagelling the first.

Azarenka's service game at *4-4 in the second was the most hilarious thing I've seen in time.

DF, 0-15.
DF, 0-30.
BH putaway 5 miles out, 0-40.
Niculescu shanks a routine groundstroke and starts yelling at herself and hitting herself and emitting the most unusual high-pitched squeals, 15-40.
DF, game.

Women's tennis!

Talking of women's tennis, Vesnina's performance in the second set TB when a dreadful Stosur was there for the taking was quite special. Every shot out out out out out.

um

can we talk about pam in the stands

ft. anna wintour

there are FIVE matches happening simultaneously that i want to watch. poor scheduling, US Open.

Which?

Jankovic/SimO_Ona, Sweta/Krumm, Hobak/Troicki, Caravane/Rybarikova, Chardy/Gulbis. Chose Jelena, who's actually playing shockingly well given her dreadful warm-ups.

Playing well and then rubbishing away a game.

Jankovic was so lucky to get away with that set. If Halep ever gets control of her serve, she'll win.

^^that seems to be happening now.

And LOLOLOLOLOLOL Krumm just won the second set against Sweta!

oh man

I like Sweta but... man

Mirjana Lucic just won her first Slam main draw match in eight-and-a-half years!

Kuzzy and JJ with vintage performances so far.

Halep about to serve for it against Jankovic...that 4-4 game where she broke was terrific.

Of course she's broken.

LOL. She could still win this, but I seriously think the newly-resurgent Lucic will beat the winner of this mess.

Kuz and Jank die another day.

Yeah, Jankovic is gonna be in trouble. Lucic! Very happy to see that she won today.

Q. Do you think people were attracted to you, to your game, because you took such risks, in the final, especially?
FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE: I think they attract -- I attract them because I'm beautiful.

<3 <3

Fish def. Hajek 6-0 3-6 4-6 6-0 6-1

Hilarious scoreline.

And Djoko on his way out...vs sparring partner Troicki.

Losing to K Bondarenko, Na?

I'm using one of the ones at livescorehunter.com

It's a pretty great match already!

Sorry break back point, which is not converted

Ooooo temper! I don't blame him though.

What a FH from Rafa! What a racquet smash from Hobak! Worthy of Bepa, that one.

Well, that's a mind-blowing stat: Nadal is 106-1 in Slams when he wins the first set. Time's running out, Nole.

The 1 loss being his loss to Ferrer here three years ago!

(Had to RACK MY BRAINS for that one.)

Meanwhile, Hobak should just not use the dropshot at all in this match.

^^^rong

That dropshot was all right!

Haha xpost

he shouldn't use it again after now though :D

Haha I knew that would happen at some point.

God, then all that work for nothing with two horrible missed returns.

WOMEN'S TENNIS

he's gonna serve 3 aces now isn't he

BLIMEY

:D

Whoa.

A bit like Hobak's SF! Multiple breaks and wasted chances in the first set, but instead of falling away in the second, takes advantage of his opponent's lull.

boooooooooooooooooooom

that is my impression of his forehand

At least nine points in a row for Nole, can't remember how the pre-break service game went!

And suddenly, you remember all those times when Rafa just got blown off the court by an uber-aggressive basher...Tsonga, Gonzalez, Youzhny, Del Potro.

Oh, that was a McEnroe stop volley!

an uber-aggressive basher with a nice line in drop-shots

Incredible rally there!

Also, Djokovic had chances to win this set like 6-2.

why doesn't nadal just gtfo

why

they're both gonna gtfo in 15 mins or so when the rain arrives

RAIN

or like 2 minutes, whatever

incredibly important final point before the rain mind

HAHAHAHA the rain delay choice on this Eurosport stream is the women's final. NEIN FUCKING DANKE.

Argh I am going to have to go to bed :( Hope it rains until er, 9pm BST tomorrow?

Sky Sports are showing last year's men's final. Keep raining until I get home tomorrow, eh?

On whichever channel McEnroe's on we got a whimsical feature about "feet"...going from Roddick's foot faults through to the punchline of the boys' champion being Jack Sock.

I'm going to check some weather forecasts for Queens and then possibly go to bed... 12:30am BST resumption at best, apparently.

Drying out the courts just now, back in about half an hour.

i guess the britishes are all in bed, so i'll just tidy up in here.

http://beta555.eog.com/uploadedImages/articles/training/Nadal.jpg

federer's age when he made the career grand slam:27
nadal's: 24
federer's total major titles the year he turned 24: 6
nadal's: 9

So happy, <3 Rafa.

he is playing so well this year. i'm not sure federer would have done much better against him than novak did. if he manages to not get hurt (big if, obv) he's gonna add at least two more majors to his total next year.

also worth noting that lil wayne correctly picked both champions.

^^first thing I thought as well!

Huge for Rafa. If he stays healthy he WILL overtake Fed's 16. Only saw up til the rain delay, but it was a beast performance. And the way he altered his game so effectively for the USO is legendary.

The end of the women's doubles was fun too, King and Shvedova are so likeable (and Liezel Huber is completely horrendous).

Roll of honour!

Men's singles: Rafael Nadal
Women's singles: Kim Clijsters
Men's doubles: Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan
Women's doubles: Vania King & Yaroslava Shvedova
Mixed doubles: Bob Bryan & Liezel Huber
Boys' singles: Jack Sock
Girls' singles: Daria Gavrilova
Boys' doubles: Duilio Beretta & Roberto Quiroz
Girls' doubles: Timea Babos & Sloane Stephens

two really good doubles pressers - King and Shvedova, awww, they're just lovely, and Qureshi and Bopanna on the politics of being an Indian/Pakistani team. I really, really hate the Bryans for winning that final, do they not know how these stories are supposed to go. SMH.

aaaand the post-USO rankings:

1. Serena Williams (1)
2. Caroline Wozniacki (2)
3. Venus Williams (4)
4. Vera Zvonareva (8)
5. Kim Clijsters (3)
6. Jelena Jankovic (5)
7. Samantha Stosur (6)
8. Francesca Schiavone (7)
9. Agnieszka Radwanska (10)
10. Elena Dementieva (12)
11. Victoria Azarenka (11)
12. Na Li (9)
13. Svetlana Kuznetsova (13)
14. Marion Bartoli (14)
15. Maria Sharapova (17)
16. Justine Henin (15)
17. Shahar Peer (19)
18. Aravane Rezai (20)
19. Nadia Petrova (16)
20. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (22)
21. Yanina Wickmayer (18)
22. Flavia Pennetta (21)
23. Jie Zheng (23)
24. Maria Kirilenko (25)
25. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (24)
26. Kaia Kanepi (32)
27. Alexandra Dulgheru (27)
28. Lucie Safarova (28)
29. Alisa Kleybanova (30)
30. Daniela Hantuchova (26)
...
33. Dominika Cibulkova (45)
50. Kimiko Date-Krumm (51) <= Mrs. Krumm in the top 50!!!!
73. Melanie Oudin (43)
118. Mirjana Lucic (150)

1. Rafael Nadal (1)
2. Novak Djokovic (3)
3. Roger Federer (2)
4. Andy Murray (4)
5. Robin Soderling (5)
6. Nikolay Davydenko (6)
7. Tomas Berrdych (7)
8. Fernando Verdasco (8)
9. Mikhail Youzhny (14)
10. David Ferrer (12)
11. Andy Roddick (9)
12. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (11)
13. Jurgen Melzer (15)
14. Marin Cilic (13)
15. Gael Monfils (19)
16. Nicolas Almagro (16)
17. Ivan Ljubicic (17)
18. Marcos Baghdatis (18)
19. Mardy Fish (21)
20. Stanislas Wawrinka (27)
21. Sam Querrey (22)
22. Albert Montanes (23)
23. John Isner (20)
24. Feliciano Lopez (25)
25. Ernests Gulbis (26)
26. Juan Carlos Ferrero (24)
27. Thomaz Bellucci (28)
28. David Nalbandian (33)
29. Richard Gasquet (38)
30. Michael Llodra (35)
...
34. Juan Martin Del Potro (10)

how does clijsters win the uso and drop in the rankings?

Good job Rafa. That haircut worked out well for him after all.

how does clijsters win the uso and drop in the rankings?

she didn't gain or lose any points from last year, while Venus and Vera (both 4R exits in '09) gained enough to overtake her.

I assume everybody but fanatics forgot all about this once play was suspended and the remainder somehow wound up on ABC-owned ESPN2 instead of CBS. Bad job.

"Jack Sock"?

Sounds unpleasant

The Onion on Rafa:

http://o.onionstatic.com/images/articles/article/18068/Feature-Nadal-redo_jpg_445x1000_upscale_q85.jpg

watched until Nole won the second set and then had to leave for work. was rooting for Djoker but equally happy with this result - I've really come around to Rafa in the past couple of years or so. :) :)

is he the first male player to win a slam on all three surfaces in one year?